TTT: Songs and Stories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme/original feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Click the link to go to their site to see the original list for today, plus links to a whole slew of other blogs...After you read mine, of course.

Songs That Have a Story (that I want to write)

It's fitting that I'm drafting this as I watch the Grammys. Music has always played a huge part of my life. There was always music in my house growing up, and whole moments of my life still burn bright in my mind because of the song in the background. The following songs are the ones that I think have a story inside of them. A lot of my choices are because the story they tell is a story that is inside me...if that makes any sense...

Mazzy Star: "Halah"

I think almost all of us can relate to these lyrics:

Surely don't stay long I'm missing you now.
It's like I told you I'm over you somehow
Before I close the door I
Need to hear you say goodbye.
Baby won't you change your mind?

You believe you are over somebody until they are standing in front of you. I first heard this song the day before I graduated high school after spending my entire high school career in love with a boy who was sometimes my boyfriend (but usually not). I love Mazzy Star.

John Mayer: "Comfortable"

About a boy who is trying to date someone new who all his friends say is perfect, but all he wants is his first love. He talks about her crashing a shopping cart into a rack full of magazines, how she could tell the difference between Coltran and Miles, and how she is most beautiful in sweats and without make-up. So cute.

That you were my first love

Is just dumb luck, A technicality

Why'd I have to practice on you?

Why'd I have to practice on your heart?

Van Morrison: "Into the Mystic"

What I imagine for this song is a time-traveling love story.

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic

Ryan Adams: "English Girls Approximately"

Dude is in love with an English girl who doesn't love him back. I adore Ryan Adams. I seriously hopes he tours this summer because I seriously need to see him live. These are the lyrics that envoke a story for me:

She's got eyes as pretty as a pair of jewels
Falling down a canyon like a couple drunken criminals
She had a messy bedroom on the edge of town
I ain't ever been good enough to ever keep around
Said you didn't love me, it was right on time, I was just about to tell you that it'll be alright

Dave Matthews: "Some Devil"

This is one of the most beautiful songs about grief that exists. This will be played at my funeral. While I don't usually enjoy stories about recovering from the death of a loved one, I do believe this song could be the basis of a lovely story.

Too drunk and still drinking
It's just the way I feel
It's alright
Is what you told me
Cause what we had was so beautiful
Feel heavy like floating
At the bottom of the sea

Tori Amos: "Little Earthquakes"

Man, I must be feeling melancholy tonight (my relationship is fine, I promise). Tori Amos has been important to me for years. I debated between this one and Cornflake Girl which could be a great fairytale, but I think there is a beautiful story of a long-term relationship reaching its end in the haunting song.

We danced in graveyards
With vampires till dawn
We laughed in the faces of kings Never afraid to burn
And I hate and I hate
And I hate and I hate
Disintegration
Watching us wither
Black winged roses that safely changed their color

Fleetwood Mac: "Gold Dust Woman"

This story is definitely about a bad-ass queen with more power than she knows what to do with. This song gives me shivers.

Rock on, ancient queen
Follow those who pale in your shadow
Rulers make bad lovers
You better put your kingdom up for sale, up for sale

Don Henley: "Boys of Summer"

It's the end of summer in a beach town and all the "summer" boys have left leaving the protagonist the win back the girl he lost. This could be the sweetest summer love story.

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Tom Petty: "Saving Grace"

A man goes back to his father's home, but it doesn't feel right.

You're rolling up the carpet
Of your father's two-room mansion
No headroom for expansion no more
And there's a corner of the floor
They're telling you is yours
You're confident but not really sure

Pink Floyd: "Wish You Were Here"

Because these are my favorite lyrics of all time and I know there is a story here:

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

 

This was hard, y'all! I feel like it's been hours since I sat down with my laptop! I could think about this forever (and I have no doubt that I'm going to go: OH, I should have put this song on the list), but I need to stop thinking about this for now. What music made your list? Link me up!